Aznar, José María

Aznar, José María (1953- ), Spanish centre-right politician, Prime Minister of Spain (1996-2004). Born in Madrid, Aznar was educated at the University Complutense, graduating in law in 1975. Becoming a state tax inspector, he joined the Popular Alliance Party in 1979, also becoming party secretary-general for Logroño (1979-1980). By 1982 he had risen to secretary-general for the national party apparatus, a position he held until 1987, while also serving from 1982 as parliamentary deputy for Ávila. From 1987 to 1989 he served as his party’s regional president in Castile-León. He resigned this post in 1989 to contest the presidency of the new Popular Party (PP), formed that year as an amalgamation of centre-right parties, and was elected president of the party in 1990. Also in 1989, he was elected parliamentary deputy for Madrid. Aznar escaped injury in April 1995 when the Basque separatist group ETA carried out a car-bomb attack on him. After the centre-right won a narrow majority in the general elections of March 1996, following 13 years of left-wing government, Aznar became prime minister, but his narrow victory made him reliant on the Catalan and Basque regional parties.

In government he concentrated on improving Spain’s public finances, to make the country eligible to join the first wave of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), beginning with a public-sector wage freeze announced immediately after he took office. Aznar was prominent in a nationwide wave of revulsion after the murder of a young Basque Popular Party councillor by ETA in July 1997. In September 1997 he threatened to block incorporation of central and eastern European states into the EU, if the EU programme of special economic aid to poorer countries (which had benefited Spain) were ended. In September 1998 he responded to the announcement of an indefinite ceasefire by ETA with hints of concessions to secure peace. In February 1999 the Aznar government tightened border controls at Gibraltar to pressurize the British government to review its stance on sovereignty of the territory, although this caused legal action at European level to be considered in June—a solution to the problem of the island's administrative status was eventually signed in April 2000. ETA announced an end to its ceasefire in November 1999, blaming the intransigence of the government in negotiations. Despite this Aznar was re-elected prime minister with an increased share of the vote in the March 2000 election, and he pledged to continue the free market reforms that had created strong economic growth and a reduction in unemployment from 23 to 15 per cent during his first term.

The start of his second term was marked by a further wave of ETA violence. Aznar backed his policy of force, which was also supported by all the main political parties, in a December agreement. The mooring of a crippled British nuclear submarine, HMS Tireless, in Gibraltar from May caused outrage, and despite Aznar’s requests that the submarine be towed back to Britain it was repaired on the island. With the failure of unions and employers to come to an agreement on labour law reform, Aznar passed legislation to liberalize employment practice in March 2001, despite protests from both sides. In August 2002 he oversaw the banning of the Basque political party Batasuna, widely perceived as being the political wing of ETA. In the face of widespread hostility in the country he allied Spain with the United States in its efforts to disarm the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, in part justifying his position by presenting the conflicts with Hussein and ETA as part of a common struggle against terrorism (see War on Iraq). Local election results in May 2003, in which the Popular Party held its ground against the Socialist opposition, indicated that Aznar had weathered the controversy over Iraq. Nevertheless, he confirmed that he would not contest a third general election, and in August nominated his deputy, Mariano Rajoy, as his successor for the Popular Party leadership.

Aznar’s tenure as prime minister came to a dramatic end in March 2004. Days before the general election that had been expected to sweep Aznar’s designated successor into office, terrorist attacks in Madrid killed around 200 people. Aznar and other government leaders were quick to blame ETA. When it became clear that the culprits were more likely to have been Islamist extremists, the Popular Party was accused of exploiting the atrocity for electoral expediency. It was swept out of office, and the Socialist José Luis Rodriguéz Zapatero became Spain’s new prime minister.